CHAPTER XX BELEAGUERED
One morning towards the end of May, 1480, Sir John Boswell was standingwith some other knights on St. Stephen's Hill, near the city, havinghurried up as soon as a column of smoke from a bonfire lighted by thelookout there, gave the news that the Turkish fleet was at last insight. A similar warning had been given a month previously, but thefleet had sailed past the island, being bound for Phineka, which was therendezvous where Mahomet's great armament was to assemble. There couldbe but little doubt that the long expected storm was this time about toburst. The fleet now seen approaching numbered a hundred and sixtylarge ships, besides a great number of small craft, conveying a forcevariously estimated at from seventy to a hundred thousand men.
"'Tis a mighty fleet," Sir John said; "and the worst of it is that weknow there are more to follow; still, I doubt not we shall send themback defeated. Our defences are all complete; our recent peace withEgypt has enabled us to fill up our magazines with provisions of allkinds; the inhabitants of the Island have had ample warning to moveinto the town, carrying with them everything of value; so the Turkswill obtain but little plunder, and will be able to gather no means ofsubsistence on the island, as every animal has been driven within thewalls, and even the unripe corn has been reaped and brought in. Howeverlong the siege lasts, we need be in no fear of being reduced to sorestraits for food. Look over there. There is a small craft under sail,and it comes not from the direction of Phineka. See! one of the Turkishgalleys has separated from the rest and is making off in that direction.It may be that the little craft contains one or two of our comrades whoare late in coming to join us."
"It may well be so, Sir John, for they have been straggling in by twosand threes for the last month."
"I will get the grand master's leave to put out in one of the galleys,"Sir John said, "for, by the way they are bearing, the Turks will cut thelittle craft off before she can gain the port."
He hurried to D'Aubusson, who was standing a short distance apart fromthe others, gazing at the Turkish fleet. A minute later he was runningdown the hill to the town, accompanied by three or four other knights;they made direct for the outer port, where two galleys were lying inreadiness, leapt on board one of them, which already contained its quotaof knights, and at once rowed out of the port. Just as they did so theTurkish galley fired a gun.
"I fear we shall be too late," Sir John said; "the Turk is gaining faston the other craft, whatever she may be. There goes another gun. Rowyour hardest!" he shouted down to the slaves.
The Turkish ship did not fire again; the wind was light, and they weregoing two feet through the water to every one sailed by the other craft.The galley from Rhodes was still half a mile away when the Turk wasclose to the boat that was trying to escape. Sir John and the knightschafed as they saw they would be too late.
"I can't make out why the boat did not use her oars," the former said."Of course, she could not have kept away from the galley, but if she hadrowed it would have made some difference, and we might have been nearlyup."
"I can only see one man on board of her, Sir John," one of the youngerknights said; and two or three others murmured that they were of thesame opinion.
"The others must be lying down; she cannot have less than from fifteento twenty men. The Turk is close alongside. They still hold on. There!She has gone about and escaped the attempt to run her down. Now she isheading for us again! Brave fellows! brave fellows!" Sir John exclaimed,while a cheer broke from those around him; "but they have donefor themselves. They must have seen us coming out, and if they hadsurrendered might have hoped to have been retaken. Their chance ofgetting quarter was truly not great, for expecting--as the Turksdo--to carry off both us and all the inhabitants of the Island, a dozenfishermen would have seemed to them scarcely worth keeping. However, byholding on they have thrown away any chance they may have had. The Turksare alongside; they are leaping down into the little craft. Ah! Two moregalleys have just left their fleet, and are heading here."
"See, Sir John," one of the knights exclaimed, "there is a single manstanding in the bow of that craft: he is facing the Moors alone. See howthey crowd there; you can see the weapons flashing in the sun. They haveto press past the mast to get at him, and as yet he seems to hold themall at bay."
"He has chosen his post well, D'Urville. The number of his assailantsprevents the archers on the Turkish craft using their bows. Fire thosebow guns!" he shouted to the knights forward: "Take steady aim at thegalley. It will distract their attention."
"Nobly done indeed!" one of the other knights shouted. "I have seen himstrike down four of the Turks."
"Row, men, row! 'Tis useless!" Sir John muttered, as he clenched thehilt of his sword. "Useless! A Roland could not long maintain so unequala fight."
A groan broke from those around him as suddenly the dark mass of theassailants made a forward move, and the single figure was lost to sight.It was but for an instant; a moment later the crowd separated, and a manwas seen to spring overboard.
"They will riddle him with their spears when he comes up; we shall havenothing to do but to avenge him. To your stations, comrades! It is ourturn now, and we have no time to lose, for the other two Turks willbe up in twenty minutes, and I had orders not to fight if it could beavoided: but we must take this fellow."
Five minutes later the galley ran alongside the Turk, to which those whohad captured the boat had already hastily returned. The ships dischargedtheir guns into each other, and then, as the galley ran alongside, theknights tried to leap on board of her. They were opposed by a dense massof Turks, for in addition to her usual crew the Moslem was crowded withtroops. For three or four minutes the knights tried, but in vain, to geta footing on board; then Sir John shouted to them to forbear, and gaveorders to the rowers at once to push off. A cloud of arrows swept acrossthe poop as they did so; but for the most part these fell harmless fromthe armour of the knights. For a time the cannon on both sides continuedto fire, but as the Christians increased their distance it graduallyceased.
They had gone but a hundred yards from the Turk when a head appearedover the stern railing of the poop, and a figure swung itself on to thedeck. The man was attired in Turkish garments, but his head was bare,and the exclamation, "A Christian!" broke from the knights.
The man strode up to Sir John Boswell.
"You used to say you would make matters even with me some day, Sir John,and you have more than kept your word."
Sir John fell back a pace in astonishment, and then with a shout, "BySt. George, it is Tresham!" threw his arms round Gervaise's neck, whilethe knights thronged round with exclamations of satisfaction.
"And it was you whom we saw keep the Turks at bay for three good minutessingle handed," Sir John said, holding Gervaise at arm's length to gazeinto his face. "Truly it seemed well nigh impossible that any one whowas like to be on that craft could have performed so doughty a deed. Andhow did you escape?"
"It was simple enough," Gervaise replied. "As soon as I dived I turnedand swam along under the boat and came up by the stern, and then held onby the rudder, sheltered from their sight. I saw that the galley wouldbe up in five minutes, and had no fear of their wasting time to look forme. Directly you came alongside her I dived again, and rose under yourstern. I did not think that you would be able to take her, for all theircraft are crowded with troops; so I contented myself with holding onuntil you were out of reach of their arrows, and then I climbed up."
"I am delighted to see you again, Gervaise. I was feeling very sore atthe moment, and I know the others felt the same, at being obliged tosheer off without making a capture; but the grand master's orders werestrict. We noted your craft pursued by the Turks, and I asked leave totake out a galley to cut her off. He said, 'Take one, Sir John, but donot adventure an attack against the Turk unless she is likely to fallan easy prize to you. Her capture would be of little benefit to us, andwould be dearly purchased at the cost of a knight's life. Therefore,as soon as we engaged her, and I found that she was fu
ll of troops andcould not be captured without heavy loss, and that two of her consortsmight arrive before we accomplished it, it was plainly my duty toabandon the attempt, although, you may guess, it went sorely againstthe grain to give the order, especially as I knew that a host would belooking on from St. Stephen's Hill. However, your rescue more than makesup for our failure; and thankful indeed am I that I made the suggestionthat we should put out to save that little craft, though I thought itcontained but a few fishermen or some coasting sailors, who had, inignorance that the Turks were at hand, tried to enter Rhodes. One ofthose looking on with me did, indeed, suggest that she might have onboard a knight or two coming to join us, but I did not give the matter asecond thought."
"And how go things, Sir John? And how are old friends?"
"Ralph Harcourt and, I think, all your comrades in the Santa Barbara,except the three who fell by your side when you were captured, are well,and at present on the Island, as, for the last two years, none have beenallowed to depart. As to other matters, they go not so well as one couldwish. The commanderies have not responded to our call for aid as theyshould have done. For this, however, they are not altogether to blame,for we have been so often threatened with attack, and have so frequentlyapplied for aid in money or men, that they must have begun to doubtwhether the danger was really imminent. In other respects we are wellprepared. We have obtained large stores of provisions from Egypt, andshall have no ground for uneasiness on that score. The defences havebeen greatly strengthened, and no one fears that we shall not be ableto beat off an attack. We have destroyed the principal buildings outsidethe walls, though it would have been better could we have gone muchfurther in this direction. And now let us have your adventures andescape."
"'Tis a long story, Sir John, and I must pray you to let me defer it fora time. In the first place, I have two or three wounds that I shall beglad to have bandaged."
"Why did you not say so at once?" Sir John exclaimed. "In those darkclothes, soaked with water as they are, I did not see the bloodstains;but I ought to have looked for them, for surely no one could have gonethrough that fight--altogether unprotected with armour too--withoutbeing wounded. Come below, and we will attend to them."
"Also order me some wine and food, Sir John; I have touched nothing savewater for twenty-four hours, and before that fasted somewhat strictly."
By the time Gervaise's wounds, which were not severe, had been bandaged,and he had eaten a hasty meal, the galley was alongside the mole,between the two harbours.
He was provided with some clothes, and went with Sir John straight tothe English auberge, where the knight insisted that he should at oncelie down.
"I will report your return to D'Aubusson, and will tell him it is by myorders that you are resting. Your wounds are not very deep, but you musthave lost a good deal of blood, and were you to exert yourself now,and be pestered with questions, it would probably bring on an attackof fever. There is nothing to do at present, for it must be some daysbefore they can land and bring up their guns."
Gervaise obeyed the orders not unwillingly, for he felt that he wasreally weak, and was greatly worn out by want of sleep. Sir JohnKendall, at Boswell's request, issued orders that he was on no accountwhatever to be disturbed, and that no one was to enter his room unlesshe sounded the bell placed by the bedside. Gervaise indeed, falling offto sleep a few minutes after he had lain down, did not awake until thefollowing morning. Having no idea that he had slept more than two orthree hours, he sounded the bell in order to inquire whether Ralph hadreturned to the auberge. He was surprised to find his friend had justrisen, and that he himself had been asleep some eighteen hours!
A few minutes later Ralph hurried into the room.
"Thank God that you are back again, Gervaise!" he said, as he graspedthe hand of his friend. "I did not return until late in the evening,having been at work with a large body of slaves at the fortifications;and you may guess what joy I felt at the news. You are changed a gooddeal."
"I don't suppose you will think so at the end of a day or two, Ralph. Ilost a good deal of blood yesterday, and have been on short rations; butI shall very soon pick up again."
"They will bring you some broth and wine directly, Gervaise. Early asit is, the grand master has already sent down to inquire as to yourhealth."
"I will reply in person as soon as I have had a meal and dressed."
"And I suppose we must all wait to hear what you have been doing untilyou return, Gervaise?"
"I suppose so, Ralph. Of course it is a long story; but I must tell youat once that there is nothing very exciting in it, and that it differedlittle from that of others who have been prisoners among the Moors, savethat I was strangely fortunate, and suffered no hardships whatever. Andnow I want to ask you about clothes. Have my things been sold, or arethey still in the store?"
"No; the question was raised but a short time since. It was mooted, bythe way, by that old enemy of yours, Robert Rivers, who returnedhere some three months ago with a batch of knights from the Englishcommanderies. Sir John Boswell answered him roundly, I can tell you, andsaid that they should be kept, were it for another fifty years, forthat he would wager his life that you would sooner or later make yourescape."
"I am sorry that fellow has returned, Ralph. Has he got a commanderyyet?"
"No; I believe that Sir John Kendall sent home so bad a report of him,that even the great influence of his family has not sufficed to obtainhis appointment, and that he has been merely the assistant at one ofthe smaller manors. Sir John Boswell told me in confidence that heunderstood that Rivers did not at first volunteer to come out inresponse to the appeal of the grand master, but that the grand priorinformed him that unless he took this opportunity of retrieving hischaracter, he might give up all hope of ever obtaining advancement. Ah,here is your breakfast."
An hour later Gervaise presented himself at the palace, clothed in thesuit of armour that had been given to him by Genoa. Although he wasengaged with several members of the council at the time, the grandmaster ordered him to be at once admitted as soon as he heard that hewas in attendance.
"Welcome back, Sir Gervaise Tresham," he said warmly, as he entered. "Weall rejoice greatly at your return, and I consider it a happy omen forthe success of our defence that so brave and distinguished a knightshould at the last moment have arrived to take a share in it."
The others present all shook Gervaise cordially by the hand, andcongratulated him on his return.
"You must dine with me this evening," D'Aubusson went on, "and tell usthe story of your captivity and escape. At present, as you may suppose,we have too many matters on hand to spare time for aught that is notpressing and important. You will need a few days' rest before you arefit for active service, and by that time we will settle as to what postwill best suit you."
Twice that day had Gervaise to recount his adventures, the first time toSir John Kendall and the knights of his auberge, the second to the grandmaster. Most of the leading members of the Order were assembled atthe palace, and, among others, he was introduced to the Viscount deMonteuil, the elder brother of D'Aubusson, one of the most famousleaders of the day. He had brought with him a considerable body ofretainers, and, although not a member of the Order, had offered hisservices in defence of the town. The council had gratefully accepted theoffer, and had unanimously named him Commander of the Forces. Many otherknights and soldiers had come from different parts of Europe, animatedalike by the desire to aid in the defence of Christendom against theadvance of the Moslems, and to gain credit and honour by taking part ina siege that was sure to be a desperate one.
"My brother has already spoken of you to me, Sir Gervaise," the viscountsaid, when the young knight was presented to him; "although indeed therewas no occasion for him to do so, since the name of the knight whotwo years ago saved the commerce of Italy from ruin, and with a singlegalley destroyed or captured a great fleet of over twenty Barbarypirates, and thus for a time put a stop to the depredations of theinfidels, is known through
out Europe. By the way, I am the bearer of amessage to you. I took ship at Genoa on my way hither, and stayed two orthree days there while she was being got ready for sea. Knowing that Iwas bound hither, a certain very beautiful young lady of noble family,to whom I had the honour of being introduced, prayed me that if youshould by any chance have escaped from captivity--and she said that shewas convinced that you would, when you heard that Rhodes was threatened,assuredly endeavour to escape and to come hither to take a share in thedefence--I was to tell you that she trusted you still bore her gage, andthat she, on her part, had held fast to the promise she made you."
"I still have her gage, Viscount; for though I was for a long timedeprived of it, I succeeded in regaining it when I made my escape,"Gervaise said quietly; and De Monteuil at once turned the conversationto another topic.
Gervaise found that no attempt was to be made to take the offensiveagainst the Turks, and that they were to be permitted to advance againstthe city without interference. Many of the more fiery spirits among theknights chafed at this prohibition. The records of the past showed thatarmies as large as that of Mahomet had suffered defeat at the handsof bodies of knights no stronger than that gathered for the defence ofRhodes. D'Aubusson, however, knew that between the undisciplined hordesthat gathered in countless numbers to oppose the crusaders, and thetroops of Mahomet, well trained in warfare, who had borne his standardvictoriously in numerous battles, there was but little comparison. Theywere commanded, too, by Paleologus, a general of great capacity. Undersuch circumstances, although victory might be possible, the chances ofdefeat would be far greater, and while victory could be only won at agreat sacrifice of life, defeat would mean annihilation to the garrison,and the loss of the city upon whose fortifications such an enormousamount of money and labour had been expended.
On the other hand, he felt perfectly confident that the city could besuccessfully defended, and that at a cost of life far less than wouldbe attained by a victory in the open field, while the blow that wouldbe inflicted upon the prestige and power of the enemy, by beingignominiously compelled to retire to their ships, after the failure ofall their attacks, would be as great as if their army had been defeatedin the field. Therefore the grand master, with the full assent of hisleaders, turned a deaf ear to the entreaties of the younger knights,that they might be allowed to make a sortie. He calmly waited behindthe formidable defences he had for the past ten years been occupied inperfecting, in anticipation of the assault of the Moslem host.
Accordingly, after disembarking at their leisure, the Turkish army movedforward, and took their post upon St. Stephen's Hill. From this eminencethey commanded a full view of the town, the hills sloping gently downto the foot of the walls. In later times the first care of a generalcommanding the defence would have been to construct formidable worksupon this commanding position. But the cannon of that period were socumbrous and slowly worked, and so inaccurate in their aim, that theadvantage of occupying a position that would prevent an enemy fromfiring down into a town was considered to be more than counterbalancedby the weakening of the garrison by the abstraction of the forcerequired to man the detached work, and by the risk of their beingsurrounded and cut off without the garrison of the town being able toaid them.
That the defence of St. Stephen's Hill was considered unnecessary forthe safety of Rhodes is shown by the fact that no attempt had been madeto fortify it when, forty years later, the Moslems again besieged thecity.
There was no shadow of apprehension felt by the garrison of Rhodesas the great array of their foes was seen moving on to the hill, andpreparing to pitch its camp. On the summit was the great tent of thepasha; round this were the marquees of the other commanders, while theencampments of the troops stretched far away along the upper slopes ofthe hill.
Previous to the despatch of the expedition, the sultan had madepreparations for aiding his arms by treachery. The agent he had sentto propose a temporary truce had, during his stay on the Island, madehimself thoroughly acquainted with the outline of the works. A veryaccurate plan of them had also been obtained from an inhabitant ofRhodes, who had abandoned Christianity and taken service with the Turks.
In addition to this he had arranged with a renegade German, known asMaitre Georges, a man of very great ability as an artilleryman andengineer, to desert to the city, and there do all in his power to assistthe besiegers, both by affording them information and by giving badadvice to the besieged. On the day after Paleologus, who was himself arenegade Greek, had established his camp, he sent in a herald to summonthe city to surrender, at the same time making lavish promises that thelives and property of the native population should be respected, andthat they should be allowed to continue to reside there, to enjoy thefull exercise of their religion and of all other rights they possessed.The pasha had no real hope that the knights would obey the summons,but he thought that he might excite a spirit of disaffection among thetownspeople that would, when the crisis came, greatly hamper the effortsof the defenders.
The Rhodians, however, were well satisfied with the rule of the Order.The knights, although belonging to the Catholic Church, had allowed thenatives of the Island, who were of the Greek faith, perfect freedom inthe exercise of their religion, and their rule, generally, had beenfair and just. The wealth and prosperity of the Island had increasedenormously since their establishment there, and the population had noinclination whatever to change their rule for that of the Turks. Thesummons to surrender being refused, the enemy made a reconnaissancetowards the walls.
D'Aubusson had no longer any reason for checking the ardour of theknights, and a strong body of horsemen, under the command of DeMonteuil, sallied out and drove the Turks back to their camp.
Maitre Georges, who was acting as the military adviser of the pasha, sawat once that the weakest point of the defence was Fort St. Nicholas, atthe extremity of the mole along the neck of land dividing the outer fromthe inner port. At a short distance away, on the opposite side of theport, stood the church of St. Anthony, and in the gardens of the churcha battery was at once erected. The garden was but three hundred yardsfrom St. Nicholas, and the danger that would arise from the constructionof the battery was at once perceived, and an incessant fire opened uponit from the guns on the wall round the grand master's palace. Numbers ofthe workmen were killed, but the erection of the battery was pushed onnight and day, and ere long three of the immense cannon that had beenbrought from Constantinople,--where sixteen of them had been cast underthe direction of Maitre Georges--were placed in position. These cannonwere eighteen feet in length, and carried stone balls of some twenty-sixinches in diameter.
Before these were ready to open fire, Gervaise had entirely regained hishealth and strength. The grand master, being unwilling to appoint him toa separate command over the heads of knights many years his senior, hadattached him to his person in the capacity of what would now be calledan aide-de-camp.
"I know, Gervaise, that I can rely upon your coolness and discretion. Icannot be everywhere myself, and I want you to act as my eyes in placeswhere I cannot be. I know that the knights, so far as bravery anddevotion are concerned, will each and every one do his best, and willdie at their posts before yielding a foot; but while fighting likepaladins they will think of naught else, and, however hardly pressed,will omit to send to me for reinforcements. Nay, even did they thinkof it, they probably would not send, deeming that to do so would bederogatory, and might be taken as an act of cowardice. Now, it isthis service that I shall specially look for from you. When a post isattacked, I shall, when my presence is required elsewhere, send you torepresent me. I do not, of course, wish you to interfere in any way inthe conduct of the defence, in which you will take such share as youcan; but you are specially to observe how matters go, and if you seethat the knights are pressed and in sore need of assistance to enablethem to hold the post, you will at once bring the news to me, and I willhurry there with reinforcements."
No post could have been more in accordance with the desire of Gervaise,
for the portion of the wall defended by the English langue was farremoved from the point selected by the Turks for their first attack, thesea front being defended half by the langue of Italy, and half by thatof Castile. Fort St. Nicholas was under the command of the CavalierCaretto, and as soon as the Turkish battery was completed, Gervaisewent down there with an order from the grand master that he was for thepresent to consider himself as forming part of the garrison. Thiswas pleasant for both Caretto and himself, for the Italian knight hadconceived a strong friendship for the young Englishman, and had rejoicedgreatly at his return from captivity, but had been so much occupied withhis duty of placing the castle in all respects in a state of defence,that he had had no opportunity for a private conversation with him sincehis return to Rhodes.
Gervaise, on his part, was no less pleased. Caretto had shown so muchtact after his release from the Moors, and had so willingly aided himin any capacity allotted to him, without in the slightest degreeinterposing his council unasked, that Gervaise had come to like himgreatly, even before their arrival at Genoa. Circumstances there hadbrought them closely together, and their friendship had been cementedduring their voyage to Rhodes. Caretto had gone back to Italy, wherehe had a commandery, a few days after Gervaise had sailed on his lastvoyage, and had only returned to Rhodes three months before Gervaiseescaped from captivity.
"This is turning the tables," Caretto said, with a laugh, when Gervaisepresented the grand master's order. "I was under your command last time,and now it seems that you are to be under mine. I suppose you appliedto come here, in order to have a fresh opportunity of distinguishingyourself. I heard that you had been placed on D'Aubusson's own staff."
"Yes, and am on it still; and it is by his orders and not by my ownsolicitation that I am here. I will tell you what my duties are. Thegrand master knows the commanders of posts have their hands so fullthat they will have no time for sending complete reports to him, and heconsiders, moreover, that they might, in some cases, however pressed,hesitate to ask for aid until too late for reinforcements to be broughtup. My duty will be to let the grand master know how matters are going,and to send to him at once if it seems to me that help is needed. Ishould, of course, always send for reinforcements, at the request of acommander; but it is only in the event of his being too busy in the heatof the fray to think of aught but resisting an attack, that I shouldexercise my own judgment in the matter."
Caretto nodded.
"It is a good thought of D'Aubusson's. When one is in the thick of afight in a breach, with the Moslems swarming round, it does not occur toone to draw out of the fray to send off messages. For myself, I shall beglad indeed to have that matter off my mind, though it is not every oneI should care to trust with such a responsibility. Some might send offfor aid when it was not needed, others might delay so long that helpmight come too late; but with one so cool headed as yourself I shouldnot fear any contingency. And now, as I am not busy at present, let ushave a comfortable talk as to what has happened since we met last. I wasat the banquet at the grand master's on the night when you related youradventures. You had certainly much to tell, but it seems to me for somereason or other you cut short certain details, and I could not see why,as there seemed no prospect of escape open to you, you did not acceptthe offer of Suleiman Ali to ransom you."
"I saw no chance of escape at the moment, but I did not doubt that Icould get away from the town whenever I chose, although it was notclear how I should proceed afterwards. It was for this opportunity Iwas waiting, and I felt sure that, with my knowledge of the language, itwould come sooner or later. In the next place, my captors had fixedan exorbitant sum for my ransom, and I did not wish to impose upon thegenerosity of Suleiman. There was another reason--a private one."
"You don't mean to say that you had fallen in love with a Moorishdamsel, Sir Gervaise?" Caretto laughed.
"For shame, Cavalier! As if a Christian knight would care for a Moslemmaiden, even were she as fair as the houris of their creed!"
"Christian knights have done so before now," Caretto laughed, greatlyamused at the young knight's indignation, "and doubtless will do soagain. Well, I suppose I must not ask what the private matter was,though it must have been something grave indeed to lead you, a slave,to reject the offer of freedom. I know that when I was rowing in theirgalleys, no matter of private business that I can conceive would havestood in my way for a single moment, had a chance of freedom presenteditself."
"It was a matter of honour," Gervaise said gravely, "and one of which Ishould speak to no one else; but as you were present at the time, therecan, I think, be no harm in doing so. At the time that I was captured, Iwas stripped of everything that I had upon me, and, of course, with therest, of the gage which the Lady Claudia had given me, and which hunground my neck where she had placed it. It was taken possession of by thecaptain of the pirates, who, seeing that it bore no Christian emblem,looked upon it as a sort of amulet. I understood what he was saying,but, as I was desirous that my knowledge of Turkish should not besuspected, I said nothing. I was very glad that he so regarded it, forhad he taken it to be an ordinary trinket, he might have parted with it,and I should never have been able to obtain a clue as to the person towhom he sold it. As it was, he put it round his neck, with the remarkthat it might bring him better luck than had befallen me. He told mejeeringly months afterwards that it had done so, and that he would neverpart with it. Given me as it was, I felt that my honour was concerned inits recovery, and that, should I ever meet Lady Claudia again, I shouldfeel disgraced indeed, if, when she asked whether I still bore her gage,I had to confess that it was lost."
"But lost from no fault of your own," Caretto put in.
"The losing was not indeed from any fault of my own, and had the piratethrown it into the sea I should have held myself free from disgrace; butas it was still in existence, and I knew its possessor, I was bound inhonour to recover it. At the time Suleiman Ali's messenger arrived thecorsair was away, and there was no saying when his ship would return;therefore, I decided at once not to accept the offer of freedom. Had itnot been for that, I own that I should have done so, for I knew thatI could repay Suleiman from the revenues of my commandery, which wouldhave accumulated in my absence; but if I had had to wait ten yearslonger to regain the gage, I felt that I was in honour bound to do so.It was, in fact, some six months before the corsair put into that portagain. The moment he did so I carried out the plans I had long beforedetermined upon. I obtained a disguise from Ben Ibyn, and by a rusesucceeded in inducing the pirate to meet me outside the town, believingthat I was an Arab chief who wished to dispose of some valuable slavegirls he had brought in. I had with me one of my old galley slaves, whohad been taken into Ben Ibyn's employment; and when the pirate came upwith two of his crew, and furiously attacked me as soon as I threw offmy disguise, it would have gone hard with me had he not stood by me, andkilled one of them who was about to attack me in the rear. I slew theother and Hassan, and the gage is in its place again."